Erosion Lesson Plan: Earth’s Systems

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Erosion Lesson Plan. 

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Erosion, and supports the standard of providing evidence of the effects of the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Display an image that shows evidence of erosion, like this one:

Ask students:

• What do you notice in this photo? 
• What do you think may have caused this rock formation?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

• Read the description on the Erosion topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
• Have students read one of the following Related Reading articles: “Way Back When,” “Around the World,” or “Mother Nature.” Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
  

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Students take the Erosion Challenge and Quiz, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about erosion while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• Make-a-Movie: Imagine you’re visiting different landscapes around the world. Produce a travelog that answers the question: How does erosion alter a landscape? 
• Make-a-Map: Make a concept map describing the process of one type of erosion.
• Creative Coding: Code a sorting game where players determine whether information describes weathering or erosion.

More to Explore

Water Cycle Game: Challenge players to figure out how water molecules change form and move through the world in this interactive game.

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of erosion with these topics: Weathering, Rock Cycle, and Soil. 

Teacher Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas. 
• Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.